MadWorld

"Don’t miss out on this marvelous bloodbath."

MadWorld has long been an eagerly anticipated game for the Wii because of its strikingly unique visual style, the quality developers behind it, and last, but not least, the copious amounts of blood it features. Finally Wii-owners can enjoy a violent, mature, M-rated game, a first for the console......well, at least if you ignore No More Heroes. And House of the Dead: Overkill. And The Godfather, Scarface, Manhunt 2, the Resident Evil games, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop……look, that's not the point, the point is that the Wii is a kiddy console with no mature games prior to MadWorld. Yup.

Truth be told, no game can rely exclusively on violence and shock-value to make itself worthwhile. Fortunately, MadWorld is remarkable in a number of other ways as well, making it my favorite Wii-exclusive third party game to date. Let's take a closer look at this bloodstained beauty then.

Concept

Terrorists have taken over Varrigan City and completely isolated it from the rest of the world, making it serve as host for their deranged game show, Death Watch. As the name suggests, the goal of the game is to inflict as much death and destruction on your fellow contestants as possible. Participating in Death Watch is Jack, who's truly a BAMF, not least because he has a chainsaw built into his right arm. He quickly earns himself a sponsor, and then it's time to start tearing people apart, thus earning enough points to reach higher ranked players, kill them, and move on to the next stage.

However, you'll quickly find out that things are a lot more complicated than they first appear, and as the game progresses you'll learn more about the real goal of the terrorists, the whole purpose of Death Watch and who Jack really is. Some of the story sequences kinda drag on, and story itself doesn't really grab you until near the end, where the big conspiracy is unmasked and plot twists are plentiful, but overall it does a good job of providing the game with some extra depth.

Graphics

MadWorld sets itself apart by being almost completely in black and white, the only color used (with a few alien-related exceptions) being blood red, which you'll be seeing a lot of. It could have been a mess, but instead it works fabulously, with characters and environments looking really great, action sequences that are nothing short of stunning and plenty of attention to detail evident. Nicely integrated onomatopoeia strengthens the impression that MadWorld is one beautifully drawn comic book in motion. The game is also without some of graphical issues that plagued other stylish games like Okami and No More Heroes, primarily the annoying pop-ups present in those games, though the small environments in MadWorld never present much draw distance to speak of anyway. In any case, MadWorld is not only visually unique, but also a gorgeous looking game.

Sound & Music

In most games, I consider the music to be by far the most important part of the audio experience, but in MadWorld that is definitely not the case. This isn't because the music is bad, it's not (more on that in a minute), but because this game features the best in-game commentary ever! See, Death Watch is a game show, and it features two announcers, voiced by Greg Proops from ”Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and John DiMaggio (you probably know him best as Bender from Futurama), the pair of them being absolutely hilarious. Their commentary about everything going on during the course of the game is to die for, it being a constant stream of memorable insults, sex jokes, pop culture references and random insanity, nearly every line being an instant classic. They are amazingly crude, rude and outrageous, with very distinct personalities and great chemistry together, meaning the lines never feel rehearsed or generic. Sometimes they repeat themselves a bit often, a few times the commentary had the on-screen action confused with something that actually hadn't happened, but overall the spectacle is nothing short of amazing and makes the game all the more enjoyable.

The other voices in the game fit well too, and the sound effects are very satisfying. The soundtrack consists mostly of various hip-hop songs, and they are actually quite good, and a better fit for the game than you'd expect. Still, it's the commentary that's the main draw, and I personally toned both the music and the sound effects down somewhat just to hear it all the better. It's simply that good.

Gameplay

MadWorld is basically a Beat 'em up where you go around different levels earning points by killing bad guys, and when you reach a certain number of points you get the chance to challenge the boss of the level. There's usually a time limit, but if you manage to keep yourself alive it should be almost impossible not to earn enough points in time to access the boss battle. You don't have to challenge the boss right away once you get enough points though, so if you want to spend the remaining time further racking up points and improving your high score, you're totally free to do that (just don't forget to challenge the boss before time runs completely out).

Fighting and killing enemies in MadWorld is fun, fun, fun! For one thing the controls are great, very easy to understand, intuitive and responsive, but not without a certain hidden depth to them. Another factor is of course the absolutely ridiculous brutality of the game. You're after all tearing people to shreds with a chainsaw, crushing heads, cutting limbs off and quite literally reducing your enemy to a bloody pulp. And it feels great! The Wii's motion controls really enhance the killing experience, especially as you're swinging the chainsaw horizontally or vertically with your Wiimote, and finishing off wobbly enemies and bosses with various Wiimote-Nunchuck gestures for incredibly satisfying kills. Even for situations when the motion controls feel kinda superfluous they are always responsive and reliable, making MadWorld an exemplary Wii game in terms of motion control implementation.

But if all you do in the game is killing people, doesn't it all get old quickly? The answer is actually no, since MadWorld does a good job of spicing things up throughout each level. You'll find that the combat system is deeper than it first appears, nasty mini-bosses frequently drop by each level, new, awesome weapons are quickly unlocked and imaginative, brutal and entertaining mini-games (called Bloodbath Challenges) further add variety. It also helps that enemy AI, while almost nonexistent in early levels, quickly improves as you progress through the game, with the bad guys really beating you up on later levels.

The levels themselves, while pretty small in size, are well designed, diverse and creative, as well as littered with numerous items that can be used to kill, distract, annoy or otherwise mess up enemies. Each level is also full of environmental hazards. As follows, there are tons of insane ways to kill people in MadWorld, meaning that in case of repetitivity you're the one to blame, not the game. Most importantly, it's only by putting some thought and effort into the kills that you earn really big points, so hitting enemies with multiple objects, jamming lots of junk into their bodies or killing multiple foes with one move is not only possible, it 's strongly encouraged. The levels are usually non-linear, so you get a lot of freedom to decide what enemies you kill, where you kill them and most importantly, how you do it.

There are also some fast and furious motorbike levels that are enjoyable and further mix things up, thankfully it's not overdone either, remaining a side dish throughout the game. Each level is topped off with a brilliant boss battle, the bosses ranging from gigantic beasts and killer robots to foxy (not to mention deadly) ladies and sumo wrestlers. The battles are usually quite easy, but extremely entertaining and the various ways in which you finish these baddies off are simply amazingly cool!

I only have a handful of issues with the way MadWorld plays: Camera control is limited, you can force it behind you, but that's it, fortunately that proved sufficient for me and I pretty much never had any actual problems with the camera. Much worse however is the lock-on system, which is slow, unreliable and caused me some real grief during boss fights. Just for the sake of reference, the lock-on system in Zelda: Ocarina of Time (the game that ten years ago pioneered the dang thing) is far, far superior, kinda mind-boggling when you think about it. Finally, I've experienced some technical issues, the game has frozen on me once and on one level the controls got pretty weird and messed up, for no good reason. It's not a persistent problem by a long shot, but still reveals a certain lack of polish. However, none of these issues come close to really undermining the gameplay as a whole, or change the fact that MadWorld is fabulously fun to play.

Longevity

Let's not kid ourselves, MadWorld is a short game, and finishing it in 5-6 hours is not only possible, it's very much likely. Fortunately the replay value is strong, and not just because finishing the game unlocks a hard mode and some sweet new weapons. Simply replaying the levels to improve your high score and finding new ways to kill enemies can significantly increase your total playtime, as well as being both fun and worthwhile. There are also a number of specified challenges available to each level, for example demanding you finish the level within a certain time limit, kill a mini-boss in a specific way or beat a boss without taking any damage. These challenges are a nice addition to the game, unfortunately you don't get any good rewards for completing them, which is a real shame. Finally, there's a neat 2-player mode in which you and a friend can compete in Bloodbath Challenge mini-games. As things stand, MadWorld can easily offer a good 20-25 hours of entertainment to those who want to fully experience it, but for those who merely play games to their ending credits, it's way too short to be anything other than a must-rent game.

Closing Comments

When all is said and done, MadWorld is a fantastic game despite its shortcomings. The remarkable visuals, the hysterically funny commentary and the incredible kills come together beautifully and the end result is a game that's very memorable and enormously entertaining. Despite all the violence it doesn't come across as depraved or twisted, but rather in equal parts hilarious and plain awesome, being so over the top you can't really be offended. An amazing game overall, MadWorld demands the attention of any Wii-owner with the stomach for it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/09

Game Release: MadWorld (EU, 03/20/09)